My Blog

New Website!!!

Maegan — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 04:53:01 GMT

So Ive been trying really hard to get this costuming business going. I started a shop on Etsy.com but now I have an actual website. Its not something Im trying to live off of, just something fun to do and make a few bucks off of. Especially with school costing so much and not being able to work much since my schedule is so full. It would be nice to at least make grocery money with my creative talents. Plus its a nice study break, to take an hour and make a new hair piece or work on a belt or skirt project. www.freewebs.com/tribalmeeg

TribalMeeg Belly Dance Acessories Now For Sale on Etsy.com

Maegan — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 23:39:23 GMT

I have created a new shop on Etsy.com Im currently selling custom Tribal style hair falls. Ive got some new things available as well. Im now selling handmade flower, feather and Autumn inspired hair clips!! Check out my shop for available products!! www.TribalMeeg.etsy.com

Good News!!

Maegan — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 05:28:33 GMT

Patty came out of his coma!!! Hes doing well, making lots of improvements, little baby steps of course but hes taking them in the right direction. Hes not talking or walking yet. But he is making eye contact and seems pretty alert. His brain is telling the muscles in his arms to tense up so hes got new braces on his arms to help keep them stretched out. Hes still using a feeding tube but hes working on his swallowing reflexes in therapy so that hopefully hell be able to stop relying fully on the feeding tube. Good stuff happening!! Im very proud of him and how hard hes been fighting!! I cant wait to see what improvements will come in the future!

Updates........

Maegan — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 03:06:12 GMT

The photo is of the 2 best Chefs I know.....Patty on the left and my baby Brian on the right!!! Its been a while since Ive updated everyone on whats been happening around here. I only have a week left of my Creative Writing class and I'm excited to finally be done and get my grade. Im pretty sure Ill be able to pull off and A- so that will be awesome!! Since my car is crud, were getting it fixed, selling it cheep, Im buying my moms 2002 Cavelier and shes buying a brand new one. Brian's car is totally shot. His transmission is shot so hes in search of a new car. Patty is doing great considering all hes been through. He was moved to the On With Life facility in Ankeny and hes doing well there. He has therapy 4 times a day and weve been able to visit him several times. Yesterday and today I put him on the telephone with Brian. Hes technically still in a coma but on a scale of 1-4 theyve rated him at a 2 so hes on his way out of the coma. He seemed to enjoy hearing Brian's voice on the phone. He was also very vocal today. Hes not saying words yet but making more and more sounds which is good! We watched a video with him today and he remained alert through lots of it, focusing right at the TV screen which is an improvement. Im proud of the progress hes making! Work is good and Im glad to be back working for the Foundation! Its actually improved a lot since the last time I worked there so I actually have a lot of fun! Thats about all I got right now. Just trying to enjoy the summer sunshine!!!

Wanna Panda, dont ya wanna, wanna Panda......

Maegan — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 04:16:42 GMT

Did I mention.....that Pandas in China......are AWESOME!!!!!

Things are finally turning around.....

Maegan — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 04:06:36 GMT

I realized I havent talked much at all about my trip to China and South Korea. So heres the scoop on that and life lately...... I was in China and South Korea from May 11 through June 14. And it was horrible!!! The people in South Korea were awesome!! I made some new friends at Yeungnam University in Daegu, South Korea. The food in Korea was much better than the food in China. Pretty much as soon as we got to China, my tummy decided to go on strike! Not good......not good at all!!! China was miserable!! The professors that lead the trip (this was a study abroad course through ISU) treated us like dirt, wouldnt answer our questions, wouldnt explain anything to us or even tell us what was going on! The only part of the segment in China that I actually enjoyed was Beijing. It was beautiful in Beijing!! The sky was clear and blue, the city was really clean, I climbed the Great Wall, saw the Forbidden City and Olympic Village. The Great Wall was AMAZING!!! But of course, Beijing was the first stop once we got to China so the rest of the trip was just down hill from there from having our cruise ship room robbed, having an allergic reaction to the Chinese version of Herbal Essences shampoo and getting a red bumpy itchy rash on my face, neck and down my back, getting the flu, getting the worst bed bug bites Ive ever had (I have scars now thank you very much)....and the list of not so good stuffs goes on for miles. I was SO ready to come home!!! I missed my mom, dad, Brian (my honey), my pets......I was so homesick!! Ive gone on other international trips with ISU before, but they never went so horribly......I couldnt want to come home! So finally.....I get to the airport in Des Moines...after 24 hours of travel.....and theres Brian standing at the bottom of the escalator waiting for me. I got to the bottom and ran to him and I swear I didnt let go of him for like 20 minutes. He had to peel me off just so I could go pick up my luggage. We drove back to Ames where we stayed at my aparment before heading back to our hometown to see the rest of my family and friends. In the car on the way back we get a phone call. Our good friend Patrick, whom I had been excited about seeing for the past several weeks, had a horrible accident that night and was at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. He fell from a second story fire escape, landed on his head on pavement and was in a coma. That was June 14. Today is July 4 and hes still in a coma. Hes made a lot of progress but its still been a hard journey for everyone. Brian and I drove up to see him once but havent made it back up a second time. Brians transmission is shot so his car is pretty much garbage. The day before we were planning on going to see Patrick, Brian's aunt died. I called Brian at work and told him and he got off work that minute to come home. Of course since he has no car at the moment, I drove down to Soho (the restaurant he works at...hes a chef :) ) and picked him up. On the way home my car died at the intersection of Waterloo Rd and University Ave. Ahhhh!!!! Now we have no cars.....no way to get to Patrick....no way for me to get back home to Ames to start my summer class!!! Brian managed to get his mom to lend us her car so we could still go up to see Patrick. Which was so hard.....just seeing him there with all the tubes and stitches from the hole they had to drill in his head to help relieve the swelling in his brain. It took a lot not to cry. But it felt good to be there with him. But now how do I get back home to Cedar Falls?? Thankfully, my dad has been having to keep his work car at home since his work building was destroyed in the recent floods. So my mom let me borrow her car to take back to Ames and she would just use my dad's blazer to get to work. Oh and did I mention Itsy?? My favorite little rat Itsy....the prettiest little hairless rat youll ever see, passed away while I was out of the country. My mom and dad were taking care of her and she got horribly sick about 2 weeks into my trip. They took her to the vet several times, even kept her overnight, had her on antibiotics but it was no use. She had developed a respiratory infection that spread throughout her body. She was miserable and suffering and my mom just couldnt bare to let her suffer so she decided to have her put to sleep. I was so excited to come home and see her. She was always so excited to see me....even if I was only gone at school for the day....she was always so happy to see me and ready to cuddle as soon as she heard me come in the house. I cried for days. My birthday was last week on June 26. I turned 23.......I feel like an old lady. Brian was planning on coming to Ames to spend the day with me (borrowing his moms car again). I thought that going up to spend the day with Patrick would be a good way for both of us to spend my birthday.....but it didnt work out that way. Brian's aunt's funeral was the day of my birthday so I didnt get to see Patrick and didnt really get to see much of Brian either. But Brian ended up making my birthday pretty great still. He took me to dinner and out for a few bloody marys (my favorite) and he took me to the Goodwill Superstore and bought me this horrible dress....but its perfect for a bellydance costume......Im going to cut it all up and use the silver sparkly fabric and sequins to make a belt and bra.....its going to be great!!! Brian is a chef at Soho....a Sushi, Tapas, and deli restaurant in downtown Cedar Falls. The restaurant also has a martini bar called the Stuffed Olive right next door. And right next door to that is the Blackhawk Hotel. Soho does their breakfast every morning.....its pretty good....eggs, bacon, toast, muffins, fruit, cereal.....not bad for a hotel continental breakfast. Well Brian was schedule to work breakfast at 6 am the day after my birthday. Brian being so clever......got me a room at the Blackhawk......a suite with a giant fluffy bed and a huge jacuzzi bathtub......and the next morning delivered me breakfast in bed.....but it was better than the normal hotel breakfast....he brought me french toast, eggs, bacon, a banana and some honey (to put on my banana just the way I like it). What a sweet heart huh!!!! But later I found out that my car is in need of about 800 bucks of repairs.....so Im borrowing my moms car until we figure out what to do. But I did say that things are turning around didnt I. Well I found out about a week after I got home from my trip, that my boss had covered all of our duties at work so I basically was going to get NO hours between now and when classes start. I was in a panic.....cuz Im broke......BUT I got a new job!!!!! YIPPY!!! I reapplied for my old position at the ISU Foundation. It pays much better and I make my own schedule.....so thats been a positive. Plus Patrick is doing much better.....slowly.....hes been fluttering his eyes a lot, moving his mouth, arms and legs. The doctors think that hes trying really really hard to wake from his coma. He healthy, no infections, the swelling in his brain has gone down although he has a lot of damage to his brain but hes still doing well, theyre thinking about removing his trach to see if he can breath though is nose on his own. He still has a feeding tube but hes digesting well. They moved him out of ICU and into his own regular room. Were just waiting for him to wake up now. Im doing great in my summer course. I still needed credits for an advanced communications course so I decided to take Creative Writing: Fiction. I like it, I got a great grade on my first short story!!! Plus this whole mini business Ive got going has really taken off. I starting making custom made tribal yarn hair extensions and have been selling them on ebay and selling quite a few. I also created a listing on Tribe with a Paypal " Buy Now" button so that people can order them through paypal right from the listing page. Pretty cool.......its a good hobby and another little form of income (which I need). I also registered for Moria Chappell's Tribal Bootcamp in Chicago for the end of August....which Im super excited about!!! I hope things continue to improve......they seem to be on the right track now......I want things to stay this way.....

New Little Business.....

Maegan — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:24:18 GMT

Ive got quite the little business goin on Ebay now. Ive gotten so many compliments on my home made yarn hair falls that I decided to try my luck selling them on Ebay!! And its been quite the success. I listed some before my trip to China and sold about 6 pairs. Now that Im back I listed another auction and have sold a couple more. I'm running them as custom orders. I created a Flickr page with photos of the different yarns that you can choose from and also have photos of some previous orders that people can also choose for their own. And then once the customer has decided what colors they want, they just let me know how they want them mixed for example if they want one main color with others as highlights or one solid color or a mix of several colors. Its working out pretty well and its a fun hobby!!! Heres the link to my seller page.....just in case..... http://myworld.ebay.com/tribalmeeg/ And a link to my Flickr page....just in case..... http://www.flickr.com/photos/26243848@N08/

Veishea Show was Canceled!!

Maegan — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:48:17 GMT

Im really disappointed that our Veishea performance had to be canceled! Every year ISU has a big celebration called VEISHEA and this year my BD instructor Shiara and her students including myself were going to be doing two performances in central campus. So exciting I know!! So weve been rehearsing several numbers all semester long in prep for the big day which was supposed to be Saturday April 12. But of course since were in Iowa and Iowa is an unpredictable nightmare for weather....WE GOT SNOW.....and it was absolutely freezing outside so there was no way we would be able to dance outside on a stage. Shiara attempting to find somewhere to relocate indoors but every space was booked so of course the show was canceled! Im bummed.....I WANTED TO DANCE....and I was totally cool with dancing in April snow....would have been a great photo opp.....but I guess it might not be worth the risk of frost bite on our bellies.....oh well. Maybe next year well have some sunshine!

My First Performance!!!!

Maegan — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 06:15:56 GMT

So tonight was my very first Bellydance performance!! The Prairie Rose Middle Eastern Dance Troupe hosted a hafla in Cedar Falls tonight with group and individual performances. I decided to sign up to dance so that I could show my friends and family all the hard work and dedication Ive put into this new found love of mine. It went great!! I got so many compliments and so much praise from not only my family, but from the other dancers and members of the audience that watched the performance. Since Ive only been dancing since September of 2007, I didnt feel comfortable attempting to choreography anything on my own so I used the choreopgraphy from The Art of the Drum Solo by Sonia of BDSS and made a few changes to it. I took Sonia's drum solo workshop with Issam last November and loved it! The whole experience felt great, especially since Ive been so nervous while preparing for my big debut. Its going to be a great memory! The greatest thing was hearing my mother and my grandmother tell me how proud of me they both are! My next performance is in April and I cant wait!!!

Anyone know of any teachers in China or South Korea??

Maegan — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 09:07:56 GMT

Im going to be spending May and June of 2008 in China and South Korea and while Im there I would really love to take some classes or workshops. But Im having trouble finding teachers or troupes. If anyone knows of any, please let me know!

Im a Newbie.......

Maegan — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 09:04:35 GMT

I am absolutely in LOVE with Bellydance!!! I just started taking group bellydance classes with Shiara through Iowa State University in September 2007. I was hooked within 5 minutes of the first class!! I only wish I had discovered bellydance earlier in life. I'm already 22 years old and just starting. And Ive never had any other dance experience other than hip hop which has also been a recent thing. I attended workshops with Jillina, Sonia, and Rachel Brice from BDSS in November and learned so much from each of them. I started going to yoga classes at ISU a few days each week and Im starting ballet in the Spring. Hopefully it all pays off because I really really want to get good at this and continue with this!!